to her forehead. “I forgot you deleted all your social media apps. You really haven’t seen.”
“Seen what?” Bewilderment mixed with apprehension. Now what were people saying about her on the internet?
Riley pulled out her phone and navigated to Jasmine’s Instagram profile.
Jasmine blinked. “Holy shit. Since when do I have one hundred thousand followers?”
“Since the publicist for Carmen has been working her butt off to generate early buzz for the show.” Riley took her phone back. “Tanya’s been posting pictures and videos from the set since the beginning, playing up the Latinx angle and the rom-com angle. Rom-coms are huge right now.”
Jasmine shook her head in awe. “I had no idea. After McIntyre, I’ve been completely ignoring all that.”
“Stop saying ‘after McIntyre’ like he was some kind of natural disaster that destroyed your home,” Michelle snapped, slapping a rose on the table and sending petals flying. “He was one douchebag who broke your heart. He just happened to be a household name.”
“Michelle . . .” Ava raised her eyebrows in warning.
Michelle shook her head. “No, I’m tired of it. She needs to know.”
Ava sent Michelle a look and soon the two were having a whispered argument while Riley stuffed palm leaves into glass vases like her life depended on it.
But Jasmine ignored them because . . . Michelle was right.
What was next? “After Ashton”? While it had a nice ring to it, this wasn’t what Jasmine wanted her life to be. All it did was play into the myth society wanted her to believe, that her love life was the most important thing about her. And it wasn’t, damn it. She was a fully rounded person with hopes and dreams and fears—and a hundred thousand Instagram followers, apparently.
She could still be the Leading Lady in her own life.
What would that look like? How did she want it to look?
Your decision sucks. Make a new one.
What if it were really that easy?
Jasmine dug in her bag for her phone.
“What are you doing now?” Michelle’s voice was heavy with suspicion.
“Canceling my flight.”
Riley let out an enormous sigh of relief.
Some part of Jasmine’s brain must have known she was overreacting, because she’d gotten travel insurance on the flight. While she navigated the cancellation on the airline’s app, her mind whirled with everything her cousins had said, including some wise words from Ava . . .
Is it so unreasonable that he didn’t tell you he had a son?
At the time, yeah, it had seemed completely unreasonable. How dare he keep something like that from her? She’d shared openly with him about her own life.
But the truth was, she didn’t have any secrets nearly as big as his. Hell, her business was already splashed all over magazine covers. And Yadiel was a secret Ashton had fought hard to protect for good reasons. As much as it stung to admit, it made sense that he hadn’t told her. She shouldn’t feel entitled to every part of him, especially not so early.
They’d said some awful things to each other, but all relationships had ups and downs, right? She had minor tiffs with her cousins and siblings all the time.
Make a new decision.
What if she did things differently this time around? What if, instead of throwing herself in headfirst, they took things slow? She’d get to know his family, since they were clearly so important to him, and he could . . . well, he could meet hers, but she wouldn’t be offended if he didn’t want to spend a lot of time around them. She sure didn’t.
But as she looked over at her cousins arguing over the flower arrangements, she knew that wasn’t entirely true. Sure, Ava and Michelle were her best cousins, her Primas of Power, and she trusted them in all things, but when it came down to it, she knew the rest of her family would have her back. And her parents loved her, even if they didn’t always understand her.
She would get through the party and try to enjoy herself. Then, when it was over, she’d have a meeting with Riley about next steps. It was time to let her agent in on the Leading Lady Plan. Knowing Riley, she’d happily turn it into a spreadsheet.
And after that . . . she’d call Ashton. She’d apologize, and then . . . well, she’d see where it went from there.
She picked up the flowers Ava dumped in front of her and got to work.
Chapter 39
Ashton’s nerves were out of control by the time he arrived